Speaking to her co-panellists Christine Lampard, Janet Street-Porter and Stacey Solomon, the 62-year-old former singer said: ‘It’s been really hard and it’s still really fresh, we’ve only just filed really.

‘He’s only just moved out and stuff. At the beginning of the last year I kind of said we were having issues but hopefully we were going to sort them.

‘We have really, really tried. We were never one to just go, “Oh we’re having problems let’s call it a day”.

‘We’ve tried and it just gets to a point where you think, “You know what? we’ve tried, it’s not working”. Life has done that and we can’t get it back together.’

Coleen continued: ‘For the sake of both of our future happiness and for our kids… especially Ciara, who’s mine and Ray’s daughter.

Advertisement

Advertisement

‘Being an Agony Aunt as well, I get these letters all the time from women who are in a very, very similar situation and I was giving them the advice, “You know sometimes when you’ve tried everything, it’s OK, it’s not a failure to say, “You know what, for both our sakes we’ve tried, moved on”.

‘And as I was saying it, I was thinking, “I need to start listening to my own advice”. I can say it to them because I’m not emotionally attached. So I had to listen to my own advice, really.

‘It is really sad and I don’t want to cry. It is really sad, but it happens and instead of sitting here or staying with someone because I’m scared of being on my own, or I’m nearly 53, do I want to be on my own at 53?

‘I’ve kind of turned it round and gone, “It’s just a new chapter” and that’s exciting in itself for him and for me.’

Coleen added: ‘It is sad, but you know what, I’ve lived my life through this show. I’ve done it for 18 years.

Advertisement

Advertisement

‘I feel like all of you and the viewers at home have kind of experienced it all with me and I couldn’t sit here and lie and I couldn’t sit here and let people write things in the media, or guess at things in the media, I thought I just need to tell people and we can all move on.

‘There’s bigger and much more important things going on in the world that we need to concentrate on.’

She explained: ‘I find it difficult to lie. It’s out there. If you read anything, you’ve heard it from me, anything else is just hearsay.’

Coleen concluded: ‘Can I just say, some of it as well was, when [my sister] Bernie passed away and then Linda of course got her secondary [cancer diagnosis] – all those things put things into perspective and also make you readdress if you’re happy or if your life’s happy.

‘So, I think it’s a lot of factors, but hopefully now we can go forward, both of us and be positive and just be great parents to Ciara.’

Coleen discussed her divorce live on Wednesday’s show (Picture: ITV / Loose Women)

The couple have been together for over ten years, but Coleen revealed that the last year has left their romance ‘truly dead’.

They tied the knot in 2007 and share 16-year-old daughter Ciara together, but in her column for the Daily Mirror newspaper, she said that the pair ‘can’t go back.’

Advertisement

She wrote: ‘There is too much dividing me and Ray. I can hardly sit here and keep dishing out advice if I’m not being totally straight about what is going on in my own life.’

Got a showbiz story?

If you've got a story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk Entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page - we'd love to hear from you.